this is bbc news. the headlines at nine... three people, including a portuguese citizen, have been killed and a policeman is in a critical condition after a gunman took hostages at a supermarket in southern france. translation: the lieutenant colonel from the police, who was with his men, voluntarily swapped himself for a hostage. the terrorists then let the hostages go. former labour leadership contender owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn‘s shadow cabinet after calling for a second eu referendum. the high court has granted an application by the information commissioner's office for a warrant to search the london offices of cambridge analytica. claims by russia that the nerve agent that poisoned a former spy in salisbury could have escaped from the porton down defence research facility have been categorically rejected by the head of the site. also in the next hour... we'll bring you news of a royal visit to belfast. prince harry and meghan markle continue their tour of the uk in the runup to the royal wedding.

good evening and welcome to bbc news. french police have shot dead a gunman who killed three people and injured 16 others in southern france. the attacker, named as 26—year—old redouane lakdim, pledged allegiance to the islamic state group. he is thought to have killed and wounded his victims in three separate incidents which began in the city of carcassonne. he is then believed to have driven to a nearby town where he took people hostage in a supermarket. a police officer who swapped himself for one of the hostages is now in a critical condition in hospital, as simon jones reports. thereau returns to france. this

time, a shooting spree in the south of the country. a shooting in a supermarket. security forces surrounded the supermarket where the gunmen had already shot and killed two people. then he took others hostage. after the police moved in, their senior officer offered himself in exchange for the hostages. translation: the lieutenant colonel of the police offered himself instead of the hostages who the terrorist then let go. ourforce then our force then intervened and brought down the terrorist. the eroica officer is in a critical condition. he saved lives and brought honour to his service and the nation. he is now fighting for his life and all our thoughts are with him and his family. one

security guard at the supermarket, who did not want his face shown, said he was shot at, twice. translation: i saw his face and the guns and i knew what was going on. we are used to seeing this on tv so anyway, it is no longer surprising. the entire attack had started in the historic town of carcassone. about 15 minutes away. the killer first town of carcassone. about 15 minutes away. the killerfirst hijacked town of carcassone. about 15 minutes away. the killer first hijacked a car using extreme violence. soon afterwards, he shot and wounded a policeman who was jogging. then he drove to the town with the supermarket and shot people and shouted, i older of dire shape! —— i ama shouted, i older of dire shape! —— i am a soldier. of islamic state. the security services say he was known for petty crimes. translation:

in 2016 and 2017, he was being monitored by the security services. however, this monitoring operation did or show any ‘this a carry out a terrorist attack. tonight, a big police operation in carcassone as the police try and understand more about his deadly attack. simonjones, understand more about his deadly attack. simon jones, bbc understand more about his deadly attack. simonjones, bbc news. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are asa bennett, brexit editor at the telegraph and the political commentatorjo phillips. owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn‘s cabinet after calling for a second referendum on brexit. the shadow northern ireland secretary broke ranks with labour party policy by also making the case for the uk to stay in the single market after brexit. he's been replaced by tony lloyd. owen smith has reacted

to the news on twitter. he says... "i've just been sacked byjeremy corbyn for my long held views on the damage brexit will do to the good friday agreement and the economy of the entire uk. those views are shared by labour members and supporters and i will continue to speak up for them, and in the interest of our country." our political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. how much support has owen smith had from other mps? plenty. you can see by the reaction among some labour mps tonight, just how many people, if not agree with what he was saying on brexit policy, certainly support his right to be able to say it. chuka umunna, the shadow business secretary saying that this was an outrage, and extraordinary that a shadow cabinet minister doing an excellent job should be shadow cabinet minister doing an excellentjob should be sacked. ending upfor our excellentjob should be sacked. ending up for our principles. many other labour mps piling in, saying

this was a bad mood. broadly, they are people who are critical of jeremy corbyn and in favour of remain. so you would expect them to do so. the trouble is that owen smith was making his views on brexit clear from his seat on the front bench as part ofjeremy corbyn‘s shadow cabinet. it was clear as far as the labour leadership was concerned, this was showing disrespect to colleagues and to the principle of collective response will see. some said he was behaving more like a backbencher than a frontbencher. —— collective responsibility. jeremy corbyn has been able to make this move without prompting open mutiny. diane abbott was asked for her response to the sacking on radio for a little earlier. owen smith was a valued

colleague. he wanted to make a contribution to the debate and he will be able to do so. what he cannot do is sit on our front bench and advance a position which is not labour party policy. but no one is saying that he can't have his own opinion. but we are clear, we want a meaningful vote on the final deal in parliament because after all, we are a parliamentary democracy, but we are not calling for a secondary random. the reaction of one other labourmp, if only random. the reaction of one other labour mp, if only anti—semites were dealt with as swiftly as remainders —— remain. jeremy corbyn appearing to go against the removal of a mural which was anti—semitic. he says tonight, i'll sincerely regret that

idid not tonight, i'll sincerely regret that i did not look more closely at the image which was deeply anti—semitic andi image which was deeply anti—semitic and i heartily support its removal. so he is getting flak for that this evening. thank you, jonathan bate, in westminster. the high court has given permission for the london offices of cambridge analytica to be searched. the company is accused of harvesting data from facebook users, and using it to try to influence the us presidential election. tonight 18 enforcement officers working for the information commissioner have entered the premises. its staff are expected to access the the firm's data bases and servers. cambridge analytica has denied any wrongdoing. earlier, our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones spoke to me about the focus of the search warrant. what they wanted to do was go into cambridge analytica's office and look at the servers and be sure that the data that has been leaked, earlier, our technology correspondent rory

—— the data had been deleted. the data collected back in 2014 and 2015 by a cambridge academic and handed to cambridge analytica, data relating to something like 50 million american facebook users. now cambridge analytica have issued a statement again about that data? yes, they said all along that they did not have the data, they had deleted it. the new acting chief exec, because the former chief executive stood down, the new acting ceo has said that police can be absolutely clear that we did not use any other state —— we did not use any of this data in the presidential election work, the donald trump campaign. they also said that when facebook asked them a year ago whether they still had any of this data, they searched through all their records and made sure all the data and all the back—ups have been deleted and they say they told facebook clearly that this had all gone. and cambridge university have now spoken? yes, there is a lot of interest in what ethical requirements were made of this academic.

because if you are an academic doing this research, you have to go through quite a process to do it for academic purposes. the university say they did go through that process in regard to his academic work and he asked if he could use that data acquired for commercial purposes for his work at the university and university said no but doesn't appear to have asked further questions. they say they will now undertake a wide—ranging review into the circumstances of this case and will ask facebook to cooperate with that review. a senior official at the porton down laboratory has said that russia's suggestion that the facility was the source of the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter is "just not true". scientists at the chemical defence unit have been analysing samples taken after the attack in salisbury on sergei and yulia skripal. our security correspondent gordon corera has been given exclusive access to porton down and has sent this report.

it is one of the most sensitive and secret sites in the country. porton down, home to the defence science and technology lab, and now at the heart of the salisbury poisoning investigation. inside one of the labs, scientists demonstrated to us one of the many ways used to detect the presence of chemical agents. a call came here to porton down in the early hours of monday march the 5th. within hours, a specialist response team was deployed down the road to salisbury. they collected samples that were brought back to laboratories at the site and which identified a military grade nerve agent. based on that, as well as other information, the government said it is highly likely that russia was responsible for poisoning sergei and yulia skripal. security at porton down is tight. russian diplomats have raised questions as to whether somehow nerve agent from here could have got out. that is something officials

say is impossible. you know, we have the highest levels of controls of security around the work that we do here. we would not be allowed to operate if we had a lack of control that could result in anything leaving the four walls of the facility here. so, you know, we have complete confidence that there is nothing that could have come from here out into the wider world, as it were. is it frustrating when you hear that kind of accusation? yes, it is a coincidence that it is down the road, that this has happened, it is very frustrating to hear that. everybody here knows that is just not true. they emphasise that the work here is purely defensive. chemical agents are pumped into this chamber to test how well the chemical suits given to soldiers stand up. there have been allegations in russia that a new chemical weapons factory is being built. but officials showed us the local planning application, saying what is being built here is actually going to be a facility for the analysis of explosives.

what about the accusation that it's secret chemical warfare facilities here, or being built here? that is just nonsense. this is a defensive organisation and we know that the russians have been suggesting certain buildings are for making chemical warfare. that is just complete rubbish. this afternoon, the park bench in salisbury where sergei and yulia skripal were found was taken away. international inspectors from the opcw are now taking samples from the scene. they are also working inside porton down itself to independently confirm its analysis, including the conclusions that point to russian involvement. gordon corera, bbc news, porton down. two lorry drivers have been jailed after causing a crash on the m1 in buckinghamshire that killed eight people last august. ryszard masierak was jailed for 1h years after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. david wagstaff was sentenced to a0 months in prison after pleading

guilty to causing death by careless driving. the headlines on bbc news... three people, including a portuguese citizen, have been killed and a policeman is any critical condition after a gunman took hostages at a in france. owen smith has been sacked from the front bench of labour after calling for a second referendum. the high court has granted an application from the information commissioner's officer to investigate the offices of cambridge analytica in london. and now the sport news. england are in action now. they are one goal up

against the netherlands. scotland are losing to costa rica, 1—o. it has emerged today that the former england women's head coach mark sampson was banned by uefa a day after he was sacked by the fa. he was banned for threatening a female official with a metal pole —— intimidating a female official. and they described his conduct as grossly violating the basic rules and banned him for three games. the next day he was sacked by the fa for inappropriate conduct earlier in. his career; ' ~ ' ~ ' ' golf, could rory mcilroy has been knocked out of the wgc match play early, blaming fatigue. he lost two out of three group games in boston, the winner will hold three

of the four heavyweight titles. joshuais

joshua is currently the ibf and wbo champion. there are no excuses. once we got the surgery done, going to the final in march 31, it is whoever is best to win. i'm100% ready. there were no injuries, so i'm ready to put on the best performance. england's cricketers will be waking up in auckland now and peering out of the window and hoping for some more rain for the continuation of the test against new zealand. they will need the help of the weather after their miserable first day. all out for 58. day two was ruined by rain. the kiwi captain got his 18th test century. after just 23 overs, play was abandoned when new zealand were 229—4 the forecast is not much better over the weekend. it is a two match series. the sport relief match is coming to

an end. 96 goals to 95 from robbie savage's team. they have been playing teams from the fa people's cup in aid of sport relief for 12 hours. this finishes at 11pm. there is coverage of sport relief on bbc one throughout the evening. you are up—to—date. we'll have more in sportsday. the teenager who planted a bomb on a london tube train that partially exploded at parsons green has been sentenced life in prison, and will have to serve a minimum of 3a years. ahmed hassan was convicted of attempted murderfor carrying out the attack last september — in which more than 50 people were injured. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. ahmed hassan described today

as the asylum seeker who cynically exploited the generosity of a country that gave him refuge, but which he hated. his bomb set off a fireball and, today, the judge mrjustice haddon—cave said hassan had been determined to create as much death and carnage as possible on the underground train at parsons green. and that it was sheer luck the device only partially detonated. 23 people suffered burns, 28 sustained crush injuries in the stampede to get out of the station. some of hassan‘s victims were in court. he had got off the train before the explosion. thejudge told him, you wanted to save your own skin and were not prepared for martyrdom. he believed that hassan had spent time at an is training camp and was wedded to their ideology, blaming the west for his

father's death in iraq. he said that hassan had lied he was 16 when he arrived in the uk so he could be classed as a child migrant. ahmed hassan left court to begin his 34—year sentence. thejudge told him he would have plenty of time to study the koran and to understand that islam was a religion of peace. president trump has signed a massive government funding bill into lawjust hours before a government shutdown. he'd earlier tweeted that he was unhappy with aspects of the bill and threatened to veto it. the bill authorises federal government spending worth one point three trillion dollars. to prevent the omnibus situation, i am calling on congress to give me a veto. the filibuster rule must be ended and they must get down to work. we have to get a not a great legislation through and without the filibuster rule, it will happen just like magic. the spending bill tops off a busy few weeks for the president — who has seen a series of personnel

changes, most recently the appointment of a new national security advisor. so let's look at some of those comings and goings over the past few weeks. on 7th march, president trump's chief economic advisor gary cohn handed in his resignation. and on the 13th of march, secretary of state rex tillerson was fired — to be replaced by cia director mike pompeo. gina hapsell gets the nomination to be the next director of the cia — the first women to hold the post. the next to go was fbi deputy director andrew mccabe — who was days from retirement. and the news that broke last night — former ambassador to the un john bolton is to replace hr mcmaster as national security advisor. a little earlier i spoke to daniel lippman, who is a reporter at politico, and mark goldberg, who is the editor of un dispatch. i started by asking mark what we know so far about the new national security advisor. john bolton is someone who doesn't do diplomacy per se. he has a

zero—sum view of the world in which every other country's game is necessarily america's loss. this leads him to take maximalist positions, refusing to give an inch. so what we can expect with john bolton as national—security adviser isafar bolton as national—security adviser is a far more hawkish stance and one thatis is a far more hawkish stance and one that is less willing to engage with allies in areas of common interest. we will talk aboutjohn bolton and what she might mean for the future, ina what she might mean for the future, in a moment. daniel, it has been a busy time for personnel turnover, what is going on? iv president trump is getting more, building out his white house in terms of what he wants to see. previously, he had been restrained by some of the adults in the room who was warning him against doing things like trade tariffs. but now he doesn't want any

disagreement amongst his own staff. he sees that as disloyalty. in a lot of people are exhausted by the year they have spent in the white house. it isa they have spent in the white house. it is a toughjob. and the shift in policy, where there are huge swings from one day to the next on what to do in terms of america's policy, that really hurts white house effectiveness and it makes people look like they are losing their reputations that they say one thing and are reversed by the president the next day. mark, what does john bolton's past suggest about how he will approach the job? there are two responsibilities. the first is to organise the bureaucracy and engage in competing viewpoints to dispassionately present the president with various foreign policy options. the other potential

role and which i seejohn bolton emphasising is when he advocates for specific positions. his time in the united nations demonstrated that is profoundly ideological in his view of the world. he takes maximalist positions and refuses to do the normal give and take of diplomacy. one imagines he would be whispering in donald trump's ker and telling him not to give an inch if he gets into conflicts with allies. so the short term term is to the right. what has been the reaction in countries like iran? most reactions have been muted. people don't necessarily want to upset or anger president trump. but on iran as recently as a couple of beers ago, john bolton was writing articles in the new york times advocating a pre—emptive war against iran, a

pre—emptive war against iran, a pre—emptive military strike to determine nuclear programme. he has done the same just days before the white house announced in negotiations between trump and came, john bolton was on fox news saying that negotiation was pointless and the only way to ensure that kim jong—un did not possess the equipment to strike the united states was to strike him first. briefly, to you, what relationship can the allies hope to have with john bolton in post—? can the allies hope to have with john bolton in post-? when john bolton was imposed and the un, is staunchest ally was the uk and adviser. in his memoirs, —— the staunchest opponents. he served his harshest criticism for the uk representative those willing to enter into negotiations in good

faith and do the normal give and ta ke faith and do the normal give and take that to john bolton faith and do the normal give and take that tojohn bolton was just anathema. on a visit to northern ireland, prince harry and his fiance meghan markle have been shown a peace—building initiative in lisburn, county antrim — and enjoyed a pub lunch in belfast. sarah campbell reports. the audience couldn't quite believe who was walking in. prince harry and meghan markle surprised thousands of youngsters gathered on the site of the former maze prison, all there to help promote peace between their communities, part of an initiative launched by harry on a visit here last september. and then to lunch in one of belfast‘s best—known pubs. on the menu, irish stew — washed down with a little liquid refreshment, of course. meghan had half a guinness, and a half of the mourne mountain gold ale to sample with her lunch. harry!

harry, this way! fed and watered, the couple brought their now familiar hands—on approach to the royal walkabout. these visits have partly been about introducing ms markle to the people, but also about giving her a greater understanding of the uk, the place she has chosen to call home. cardiff in january, and mini harry and meghan gave their namesa kes welsh love spoons. in london, they took part in a broadcast on a community radio station. and in edinburgh, a close encounter with a shetland pony. rain today in belfast, the final uk capital city left for meghan to visit in her continuing journey from california girl to the wife of a british prince. sarah campbell, bbc news, belfast. a group of chefs in turkey are claimed a record for the world's largest baklava. a giant tray of baklava,

weighing over half a tonne, was presented at a "gastronomy summit" in ankara. apparently the pastry had been in the works for six months and more than doubles the previous world record. now the weather with darren. pleasant sunshine today. cloud is coming in from the south—west. in northern ireland, clear skies, light winds, touch of frost and a few icy patches. much milder for england and wales under the cloud. many areas will stay mild and cloudy across southern parts of england. we might see some rain or drizzle. more sunshine arriving in the far north of england, sunny skies in northern ireland and scotland away from sharp showers in the northwest.

a better day on sunday for england and wales. more sunshine and patchy cloud. most places will be dry. fewer showers in the north—west. some sunshine and feeling quite pleasant. the headlines: three people have been killed and a policeman is in critical condition after a gunmen took hostages at a supermarket in southern france, the man was shot dead by security forces. former labour leadership contender owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn par shadow cabinet after calling for a new eu referendum. enforcement officers working for the information commissioner have

entered the offices of cambridge analytica in central london. claims by russia that the nerve agent that poisoned the former spy in salisbury could have escaped from the porton down research facility have been categorically denied by the head of research at the facility. now on bbc news, a 70—year—old crime mystery is revisited in the porthole mystery. bbc home service... james camb, a deck steward on the liner durban castle, was today charged with murder on the high seas of miss eileen gay gibson, the actress who disappeared from the ship during a voyage from south africa to britain. in other news, the shortage of water continues following the long dry spell...